Public safety agencies to partner with Stephens College to practice preparedness for active assailant event

The Columbia Police Department, in partnership with Stephens College, the Columbia Fire Department, and the University of Missouri Ambulance Service is coordinating a full-scale active assailant exercise on Wednesday, Feb. 28 from 6-9 p.m. on the Stephens College campus.

The exercise will take place in and around the Pillsbury Science Center and Windsor Auditorium buildings. The perimeter around the buildings will be inaccessible to students and citizens during this exercise. There will be a temporary total closure of East Walnut Street between College Avenue and Ripley Street, and a total closure of Ripley Street between East Walnut Street and East Broadway for the exercise.

“We’re incredibly grateful to Stephens College for the opportunity to host this kind of exercise on their campus,” said Special Operations Commander Lt. Lance Bolinger. “Having Stephens provide the space and the role players to effectively execute this exercise is crucial to ensuring we’re properly prepared should we ever encounter this type of scenario in Columbia.”

“Stephens is proud to be the site and host of this exercise; it’s a great service to our community, it ensures our local police and fire are very familiar with our campus, and it prepares them to respond effectively should there ever be a real incident here in Columbia,” said Stephens College Director of Marketing and Communications Rebecca Kline. “The best way to be prepared for such an occurrence is to ensure that our local responders are as well prepared as possible to react quickly, effectively and safely. Stephens is proud to be the kind of good neighbor that helps ensure our community’s responders are developing that expertise and experience.”

Evaluate local response agencies’ ability to establish multi-agency communications and interoperability during an active assailant incident.

Evaluate local response agencies’ ability to effectively triage, treat, and transport all people in need within the affected area during an active assailant incident.

Evaluate local response agencies’ ability to develop and deliver coordinated information to the whole community, including the public, the media, incident management, and responders across agencies and disciplines effectively during an active assailant incident.

Students on campus, motorists, and pedestrians in the area of the exercise should expect to see a number of emergency services operating as if the exercise was a real-time incident. Several uniformed law enforcement officers, including the CPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team and Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT), as well as uniformed Fire and Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and emergency services vehicles will be on-site.

Joint Communications also reminded the public: “We’re asking all of our media partners to share this information as widely as possible to help in notifying the public that these are exercises and there is no need to call 9-1-1 or take any other actions.”